


brass in pocket

by templemarker



Category: EastEnders (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-25
Updated: 2019-12-25
Packaged: 2021-02-25 23:20:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,101
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21953563
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/templemarker/pseuds/templemarker
Summary: "Alright, Pam," he said, a bit hesitantly.She smiled brightly at him, and for a moment Callum was regretful not to have known her until now; she seemed like such a lovely woman, who cared deeply about the square and its people, the business and their customers -- not just the money to be earned off them. Callum had been proper far, though, probably in Iraq, maybe Somalia. Miles away from Pam, from Walford.From Ben, and who he was then. Who he was when he was with Paul.
Relationships: Callum "Halfway" Highway & Pam Coker, Callum "Halfway" Highway/Ben Mitchell
Comments: 1
Kudos: 31
Collections: Yuletide Madness 2019





	brass in pocket

**Author's Note:**

  * For [hudson](https://archiveofourown.org/users/hudson/gifts).



> Okay, the week Pam Coker was in town to lovingly destroy Ben was the best week ever. Hopefully this fic does it a bit of justice. 
> 
> All the thanks to PM for all the things. 
> 
> Happy holidays!

"Come now, Callum, give us your mug and we'll have a tea break," Pam said, bustling into the office like she'd been doing it all her life. Which Callum supposed she had done, though he'd have thought the years of retirement would've dulled her general enthusiasm for being back at the undertaker's. 

"Alright, Pam," he said, a bit hesitantly, before handing over his mug that had gone well cold in the autumn chill. 

She smiled brightly at him, and for a moment Callum was regretful not to have known her until now; she seemed like such a lovely woman, who cared deeply about the square and its people, the business and their customers -- not just the money to be earned off them. Callum had been proper far, though, probably in Iraq, maybe Somalia. Miles away from Pam, from Walford. 

From Ben, and who he was then. Who he was when he was with Paul. 

Leaning back in the big chair behind the desk, Callum absently chewed on the biro in his hand as he thought about Ben, a Ben several years younger, falling in love with Pam's grandson while fighting it every step of the way. Paul had been right handsome, he knew that from the handful of photographs stashed around Coker & Mitchell, and he'd loved Ben so well that Ben had been gutted for years from the pain of losing him. 

"What's that face on for then, young man?"

Pam's arch voice cut through his meandering thoughts, and Callum started upright, taking the biro out of his mouth just in time to prevent ink from spilling all over his mouth and hands. He tossed it in the bin and gave Pam as much of a smile as he could manage. "Oh, just thinking, Mrs Coker."

"Too hard, I expect. And haven't I told you to call me Pam? Come on, we're having our tea in the garden," she said briskly, bustling Callum out of his chair and the office and into the concrete half-box with a handful of pot bushes. Calling it a garden was a push, but it was a quiet refuge where they'd been known to take distraught clients for a breather. Or for Jay to sneak a cig when he didn't want Lola or Ben to know. 

"Now," Pam said, turning the full force of her attention to Callum, "I want to know about you, Callum. You're the one making our Ben so happy he thought he'd hide it from me -- you've accomplished quite the feat, you know."

"Oh, well," he said, ducking his head towards his tea mug, "It was mostly him, you know. He, ah, he was very insistent. On--on being truthful, with yourself and with the people you love. I'm not entirely sure why he kept on with me. I've been something of a mess," he confessed, feeling the heat run across his face. 

"You know, Ben never takes anything lightly," Pam said, her tone shrewd. "When he sets his teeth -- or his eyes -- onto something, he doesn't let it go, even when he might ought to." She patted his hand where it rested on the rickety patio table, but her eyes were sharp. 

"I know," he said quietly, thinking of all the times over all those months where Ben had cornered him, or challenged him, or, or kissed him, right when he didn't know he'd needed it. The push, or the kiss, or the relentless sense of Ben's eyes on him, watching him, holding him to a standard that Callum had worked very, very hard to pretend never existed. 

"I don't think he'll let you go," Pam said, after a moment's silence. Callum's eyes darted up to meet hers, then ducked back down. His hand, drawing his tea up to his lips, was shaking a little bit. 

Callum didn't think Ben would let him go either, no matter what might come their way. He couldn't pretend that the knowledge wasn't a comfort, even as it was a new weight to bear, to handle. He'd never thought, coming back to Walford, letting his contact with his army mates wither away, that he'd ever find someone who'd mean this much to him. That he'd find a man that he'd let get so close to him Callum couldn't bear to wake up in the mornings when Ben hadn't slept over, or had run out early for something with the car lot. 

He knew Ben felt it too, this almost inevitability between them. They had their laughs and their fun, they had their moments of rough heat that lit Callum up just on the memory alone. But they would go hours sometimes, just lying next to one another, the telly nearly mute and their phones left on the nightstands, just existing next to one another. Callum had never felt so truly himself before then, all of himself, not just the parts he thought he could show other people, or a shallower version of who he was, propped up like a cardboard cutout to smile and laugh on cue. 

Callum swam back up from his thoughts, always Ben these days, to find Pam watching him with knowing eyes. He gave her a smile, but could feel it wasn't a large one; he hoped he wasn't giving her too poor an impression for Ben's sake, knowing how well he loved her. 

"I had a love like that once," Pam said, as if Callum had been pouring his heart out at her feet instead of brooding over a brew. 

"What did you do?" he asked, partly to be polite, but also from his own curiosity. 

"I married him," she said simply, but her eyes made it a challenge. 

Callum shuddered in a breath; he was only a few months out from his last failed attempt at a marriage. The thought was too terrifying to consider closely. 

Just like that, Pam broke the tension, patting him genially again on his hand and picking up the mugs between them, Callum's only half-drunk. "Well, that was a very nice tea break," she said. "I think I've gotten to know you very well, Callum Highway. You're a fine man, and a good strong counterweight to our Ben."

"Right, what--" he tried to ask, but she bustled away, only ducking back out into the garden to admonish him: "Back to work, young man! That paperwork won't sort itself out."

Callum stood up, a bit dazed, and smoothed his tie down his front as he followed her back inside. Pam Coker certainly couldn't be called a lightweight. No wonder Ben loved her as his own.


End file.
